This years ComicCon was the best and biggest ever,
and CGC had our best convention in terms of the number
of submissions, the number of CGC certified comics displayed
by dealers, and positive comments from the collecting
community! It seems CGC has really arrived, as collectors
from all over the world searched out our booth in order
to submit comics for us to certify.

Steve
Borock and Mark Haspel worked the booth and walked the
floor answering questions, listening to comments, and
explaining CGCs certification process to the few
people in our hobby who still dont know exactly
what it is CGC does. Both Steve and Mark said most people
were very excited about what CGC has done to revitalize
the back issue and collectors market.

The best and yet most disturbing comments at the show
were about how CGC has saved collectors from losing
money to online ebay crooks, some of whom have private
feedback, who sell trimmed and color-touched comics.
The collectors get the comic after the auction, send
it to us, find out that they have been deceived by these
comic book "doctors," and are able to get
a refund. One collector told us the $240 spent with
us saved him $15,000!

We heard that record prices were paid for CGC certified
comics, including an Amazing Spider-Man #19 CGC 9.9
Mint that went for just over $17,000! Thats over
37 times the Overstreet 9.4 NM guide!

Kudos to Metropolis Comics, Highgradecomics.com and
the Pacific Comic Exchange for having the most impressive
showing of CGC certified comics of all the dealers at
the con.

The auction houses were present in full force. Joe
and Nadia Mannarino of All-Star auctions held their
online/live auction at San Diego, and as in every year
there, they assembled an impressive showing of high
grade and rare CGC certified comics and very rare original
art, once again setting record prices. Heritage auctions
were set up across from the CGC booth and, from what
we saw, Ed Jaster, Fred McSurley, and John Petty were
working non-stop showing CGC certified comics and taking
consignments for their next monster auction. Jay Parrinos
The Mint had what was probably the most impressive showing
of CGC Gold and Silver Age high grade gems at the show.
Those of you who know Bill Hughes and Rob Hughes know
how hard they work and this con was no different: they
both looked worse for wear by the end of the show! It
looks like their next auction will be their best yet!
For results and information on these upcoming auctions,
go to www.allstarauctions.net
, www.jayparrino.com,
and www.heritagecomics.com.

All in all, in our humble opinion, this was the best
San Diego ComicCon ever!

Venus: A Quick
Lookby Phil Kaltenbach

Of the many "gruesome but wonderful" titles that
made up the Marvel/Atlas line near the beginning of
the 50's, one of the best was "Venus," a title that
tried to appeal to an incredible variety of readers
during its run of less than four years. At the beginning,
in August 1948, this book told the story of Venus, goddess
of love, who wished to find out more about the love
life of mere mortals, so she descended to Earth and
took on a job as the writer of an "advice to the lovelorn"
column in a large city newspaper. She almost immediately
fell in love with her editor, who felt the same way
about her, and they shared some fairly innocuous adventures
through the first half-dozen issues. Issues seven and
eight bore the "lovers' magazine" heart imprint that
appeared on some twenty titles at this time, as Martin
Goodman apparently decided that romance comics were
the wave of the future.

With issue nine, the editors seemed to feel that science-fiction
and fantasy were a better bet, and Venus had to deal
with supernatural forces, monsters, exile on the moon,
and even the end of the world in #11. These extraordinary
but unspectacular stories ran for just four issues,
until April 1951, when the new flood of Atlas horror
titles swept it up.

The last seven issues of "Venus," written and drawn
by Bill Everett, make up an incomparable, if small,
body of work. In each issue the lovely Venus and her
mortal friends faced an incredible array of terrifying
menaces. A few of the highlights are issue #16, in which
gargoyles invade the newsroom; #17, with an amazing
cover depicting our heroine being interred alive by
skeletal masons and the fantastic story "The Cartoonist's
Calamity," in which every bizarre creation of the title
character springs to looney life; and the final issue,
number 19, which boasts one of the coolest covers imaginable.
More than in any other title, in "Venus" Bill Everett
was able to give free reign to his astonishing imagination
and talent, and anyone who sees and reads any of these
books will fall in love at first sight, just as the
title goddess herself would surely have it.

CGC Adds New
Grader

Jerry Stephan set sail on his comic book odyssey from
Saint Louis in February 1965. His journey took him to
his first comic book convention in 1968, mail order
(both buying and selling) in the early 70s and
east coast conventions from New York to Orlando during
his Navy days in the late 70s.

After Jerry received his honorable discharge from the
Navy as a journalist in 1980, he bought 8,000 comics
through and ad in The Buyers Guide and
set about supporting his habit by dealing at local shows.
With his Theater degree from University of Missouri
at St. Louis in hand and a career as a computer programmer
begun, Jerry embarked on a new course by opening a comic
book store (Stephans Fantasy Shop) in May 1985.
Two years later, like many shops in the late 80s,
his ship run aground; Jerry took to the road and began
doing shows throughout the Midwest.

1994 was a watershed year for Jerry. First, he put
on his first of many comic book shows. Jerrys
greatest joy was to bring comic creators to St. Louis
and often take them to dinner. Chief among his guests
were childhood idols Dick Sprang and Carmine Infantino.
Second, that fall he joined a newly formed St. Louis
comic club, SAGA (Silver Age and Golden Age collectors)
and was drafted President, an office he retained with
pride until joining CGC where he will make a fine addition
to the already impressive team of comic graders